Thursday, December 18, 2008

Geoscience Australia have released new digital surface geology map of the whole of Australia. The map is a 1:1 million scale database and provides, for the first time, a seamless representation of Australia's geology over the whole country.

Previously, Australia had been mapped in sections by State and Territory Government agencies. This has resulted in geological information that did not match up across juristictional boundaries, or even between areas within juristictions. This is because of different data acquisition methods used, and timing - where one block would be surveyed, and an adjacent block surveyed years later when the methodology or standards had changed. This resulted in a patchwork covereage that was not consistant.

The new map is now seamless across the country, and this will help resource and environmental managers to better understand and interpret regional geology.

2 comments:

Wow, that is a great map! The phenomenon you are describing is called the "State Line Fault" here in the U.S. People working independently in several states complete a map but when they compare them, the contacts are usually off somewhat, hence an apparent "fault". ;) I love this blog!

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Palaeontologist, interrupted. In a previous life I worked on Ediacaran and Early Cambrian palaeontology, palaeoecology and taphonomy. While doing all that I also discovered talk.origins . . . the rest was history. I subsequently moved on to a real job, mainly because they pay me. And for the lawyers, this blog represents my opinions only and not those of my employer.